ESG

Kjell & Company has a clear ESG agenda with highly ambitious targets for its own operations and for others in the Company’s value chain. The Company’s ESG agenda revolves around clearly set targets in three areas included in the ESG concept. These are climate, social sustainability and corporate governance.  

Sustainability impact in the value chain 

The greatest environmental impact in the value chain is from the materials used in products, transportation from Asia to Europe and waste related to end products and packaging. Throughout the value chain and also among its own staff, the Company monitors its impact on social aspects, such as working conditions and human rights, particularly in Asia. As a brand owner with a large share of products from Asia, the Company upholds high integrity to pursue a policy of zero tolerance toward bribery and other forms of corruption.  

A summary of sustainability impact in the value chain is presented below: 

ESG risks and opportunities

The Company’s product offering makes, given its very nature, rigorous demands on product safety and quality, primarily with regard to materials and production but also on use by end consumers. This therefore makes rigorous demands on production methods and quality control, as well as requirements for a high level of expertise among staff to teach consumers safe use. Transparency in communication, responsible and ethical purchasing, and compliance with specific laws and regulations for products, become proportionally more relevant in terms of customer awareness and consequently increase market requirements in terms of safety and quality. 

By actively searching and prioritising the assortment and products, Kjell & Company has a unique opportunity to provide its customers with new, energy-efficient products, and other ways to help reduce the energy consumption of its customers. As a retailer of accessories, and to a certain degree spare parts, a replacement adapter sold by the Company, for example, can extend the life of the main product and thus create less waste compared with if the customer had purchased a new product.  

Environmental risks include abnormal weather conditions, such as above average heat and precipitation, and negative climate change, which could impact operations. Kjell & Company continuously monitors its carbon footprint from transportation, both domestic and international. The Company strives to use its nationwide store network as delivery hubs to reduce lead times and emissions. In addition, Kjell & Company has knowledge of its exposure to the impact of climate change and therefore reduces this risk through geographic diversification. The Company believes these activities will attract the conscious customers of the future as they intend to strengthen the perception of Kjell & Company as a sustainable brand. 

Kjell & Company’s ESG initiatives 2021 

PRIMARY ESG TARGETS 2021 

INITIATIVES 2021 

OUTCOMES 2021 

1. Consumption: Product quality and safety 
  • Ambitions were to evaluate opportunities for recycling in all locations, reduce energy consumption per square meter by 5%, and to reduce the amount of plastics used in private label packaging to 11%

  • Due to the pandemic, we surveyed all locations for recyclability digitally. Moreover, three locations were moved – and consequently upgraded – to LED only lighting and an additional two were upgraded in their current location. The plastic parts that remain in our private label packaging range is the Styrofoam shock absorbers which we, due to drop test requirements, need to find other ways to replace.
  • During 2021, all locations were surveyed for recycling opportunities 100% (2020: N/A)
  • Power consumption per square meter across all locations decreased by 3% (2020: 3%).
  • Amount of plastics used in private label packaging was decreased to 12%  (2020: 13%).

2. Social: Fair and safe employer offering opportunities for
career as well as personal growth
  • Ambitions were to increase eNPS to 60, share of employees originating from another country than the one they are currently working in to 10%, and to increase the share of female leaders to 25%.

  • Given restrictions imposed in the wake of the pandemic, planned activities to increase eNPS had to be cancelled. While not reaching our goal, we are happy our efforts to maintain operations while minimizing the spread of Covid-19 has been perceived positively by our staff. We failed to implement a suitable measure for diversity due to both a delayed HR system implementation and internal disagreements on which metric to follow up. Aided by our current female employees we reviewed the hiring process to ensure its gender neutrality. Furthermore, we discarded the use of knowledge tests as data showed we lost the most women in that step of the hiring process. Despite falling short of our goal, we are beyond excited that the share of female employees grew to 25% (2020: 18%)
  • In 2021 eNPS reached 53 (2020: 47).
  • We failed to develop an appropriate way to measure diversity but will continue our efforts in 2022.
  • Furthermore, the share of female leaders reached 19% (2020: 20%).

3. Governance: Set an example for business ethics and
social responsibility
  • Ambitions were to conduct anti-corruption training with all staff related to assortment, sourcing, and procurement, to ensure that all suppliers have signed a Code of Conduct, and to hold all the relevant compliance documentation for new items introduced to our range

  • The Swedish Anti-Corruption Institute were invited to educate assortment and procurement staff in Sweden, and Sourcing staff were educated in China by Longan Law Firm. Our work to implement the task of document checking as a prerequisite to item creation continues in 2022.
  • Anti-corruption training was performed with 100% (2020: N/A) of staff engaged in assortment, sourcing, and procurement work.
  • Kjell closed the year with 97% (2020: 93%) of its active suppliers having signed a Code of Conduct.

  • Furthermore, 98%
    (2020: 94%) of all compliance
    documentation for new items introduced to our
    range was collected. 

 

Primary ESG targets 2022 

PRIMARY ESG TARGETS 2022 

AMBITIONS 2022

1. Climate: Reduce the Company’s CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030 relative to the Company’s sales 
  • In 2022 we aim to divert at least 80% (2021: N/A) of collected waste across all locations for material recycling.

  • We aim to continue our journey towards energy efficiency by decreasing power consumption per square meter across all locations by 5% (2021: 3%).

  • In addition, we will strive to decrease use of plastics in private label packaging by weight to 10% (2021: 12%).

2. Social: Fair and safe employer offering opportunities for career as well as personal growth
  • Going forward we aim to increase our eNPS score to 60 (2021: 53).

  • To show our commitment to, and cement diversity and equality as a part of our foundation, we will invest and launch a Diversity Council which will find our baseline and set the targets for the years to come. 

  • Furthermore, we continue our work with ensuring at least 25% (2021: 19%) of leaders are female. 

3. Governance: Set an example for business ethics and social responsibility
  • In 2022 we aim to systemize the anti-corruption training to ensure that all existing
    assortment, sourcing, and procurement staff renew their anti-corruption training yearly, and that all new hires related to the relevant work tasks perform the same training as a step of their onboarding process

  • We continue our ambition to ensure all 100% (2021: 97%) suppliers have signed a Code of Conduct. 

  • We still aim to collect all 100% (2021: 98%) of compliance documentation before the items are placed on the market.

 

Recognition of Kjell & Company’s sustainability work 

Kjell & Company has a highly respected ESG agenda. In a report published by Ungdomsbarometern, electronics and technology brands were ranked based on which brands had the best sustainability work. Kjell & Company was ranked number five, which was the highest rating for a Nordic player in consumer electronics accessories. The only companies that ranked higher were Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and Electrolux. 

According to Ungdomsbarometern, 44% of respondents consider ESG more now than before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 87% of respondents indicate that they consider ESG to be very important or quite important. The most important ESG areas include sustainable products and packaging, an environmentally-sound manufacturing process, fair working conditions, equality regardless of gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation and reduced mental illness among employees. Kjell & Company strives continuously to improve its ESG profile and in 2021 the Company is prioritising objectives in areas such as product safety, production conditions, environmental impact, equality and integrity. One clear example of Kjell & Company’s sustainability work is that the Company identified in 2019 an opportunity to use surplus plastic from production to create new products. As a result of the initiative, a charging cable for mobile phones manufactured from surplus plastic was launched. 

Scroll to Top